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I stayed calm as Roger guided me out of the terminal and into the much colder air. My nose inhaled the unique welcoming scent of my homeland.
My soul careened around inside my body as Roger marched toward a taxi.
He threw his suitcase in the trunk.
We climbed in.
And we began the forty-five-minute journey into Istanbul.
Chapter Thirty-One
*
Nerida
AGE: 20 YRS OLD
*
(Love in Sanskrit: ?????)
SHRILL RINGING PIERCED MY EARDRUMS.
I shot upright, my eyes flying around Aslan’s sala-bedroom, my memories blessedly quiet. His wind-swept, masculine scent surrounded me as I fumbled in the bed coverings, searching for my phone.
The heartache that I could never get free from woke up far too fast, crushing my chest with the knowledge that even though Aslan’s scent surrounded me...
He didn’t.
He’s gone...
Tears gathered into a wet ball in the back of my throat.
Nine days since the accident and tonight was the first time I’d actually been able to fall asleep.
But only because I’d crawled into Aslan’s bed.
I couldn’t stay in my room.
Couldn’t stay in the house where every nook and cranny was melancholy and heavy, mourning Aslan as if he was already dead.
My eyes stung at the brightness of my phone screen as I swiped ‘answer call’ and noticed it was two in the morning.
“Hello?”
A crackle.
A delay.
And then, the best fucking sound of all.
“Nerida? Oh, thank God. I’m so sorry for calling so early there. I’m sorry for waking you. I’m sorry I couldn’t wait till a more reasonable hour but—” His voice cracked. “Kahretsin, seni özledim.” (Fuck, I miss you).
“Aslan—” Sobs I’d fought for so many days clawed out of me with needles and pain.
I cried.
I cried so damn hard.
Tears rained, and I rocked in Aslan’s bed. His bed where we’d hugged and touched and kissed. Where we’d whispered about our future and made so many promises to one another.
“Ah, Neri. Please...please don’t cry—” His baritone wavered wetly, hinting I wasn’t the only one breaking.
“Aslan...” I pressed my phone hard against my ear. “How...?” Sucking back sobs, I did my best to swallow my grief all while choking on never-ending guilt. “I’m so sorry I didn’t listen. I’m so sorry I spoke to those creeps and then distracted you. This is all my fault—”
“Your fault?” His voice rose in surprise. “None of this is your fault, canim.”
“But I—”
“It was them, Neri. Not you. Never you. You were only trying to protect me.”
“And look what happened.” I wiped my mouth and shook my head. Now was not the time. It didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered apart from getting him home. “W-Where are you?”
I sat straighter.
I wouldn’t waste a single moment to sorrow...not while he was here...linked to me through a tiny phone in such a monstrous world.
“Where are you, Aslan?” I gasped again. “I’ll come. Right now. I’ll come find you.”
He took his time replying, almost as if he didn’t want to. “I...I’m in Turkey.”
Every part of me shut down.
I launched out of bed and shot into the garden. I needed air. I needed stars. I needed the damn moon to somehow bring him back to me. “How long? How long have you been there?”
“About ninety minutes.”
My mind raced a million miles an hour.
I hadn’t been able to stop him from being deported but I could do everything possible to keep him alive. “You need to get out of there.”
“I know. I—”
“Where are you exactly?”
“I’m close to Taksim Square, on Istiklal Caddesi. The agent in charge of escorting me home is staying in a hotel here.”
“You’re with him right now?”
“No, we just parted ways. We caught a taxi together from the airport.”
“So you’re alone?”
He sighed. The faint clang of activity and hum of voices echoed down the line. “No. I’m surrounded by people. Locals. Tourists. Istiklal street is a hive of shops and eateries at night. I figured I was safer in a crowd.”
I paced the garden, my eyes falling on the pool where Aslan had helped time my breath hold so often and where he’d sunk inside me when we were fooling around beneath my parents’ noses.
“Can you get to a consulate or something?”
“And say what?” he asked, his tone tired and strained. “I’m Turkish looking for a way out of Turkey?” A low growl fell from him. “I-I have a plan, Neri, but...I need to tell you something before I do it. Okay?”
I froze. “What? What is it?”
“I know you called about me. That you lodged visas and—”
“They never let us speak to you.” My hands balled with rage. “I called every minute, and they never showed an ounce of humanity.”
“I know. But they’re aware of who you are, despite me trying to deny your involvement in me overstaying.”
“Then why haven’t they come to question us? We haven’t exactly been shy with the truth. We don’t care about the repercussions as long as we can keep you alive.”
“And I can’t tell you how grateful I am, askim, but...” He sighed heavily. “You’re not going to get in trouble.”
